Panthers leave Las Vegas on high note

Forty-seven teams descended upon Las Vegas this weekend, but few faired as well as Pitt in… Forty-seven teams descended upon Las Vegas this weekend, but few faired as well as Pitt in the annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational.

“This was a great experience for them,” head coach Rande Stottlemyer said. “It was a good stepping stone toward the end of the year.

“We saw great competition and got to see some of the teams west of the Mississippi they’re going to see in the NCAA championships.”

After one day of competition, the Panthers were left with three wrestlers to compete in the semifinals.

At 133 pounds, fifth-seeded Drew Headlee continued his undefeated season by winning all four of his first-day bouts.

In the pigtail rounds, Headlee defeated Michigan’s Chris Diehl 8-0. He notched his second major decision of the day in his first-round bout against Steve Makuka of the Air Force. Headlee’s 14-3 victory qualified him for round two of the tournament.

In his second-round match, Headlee defeated Indiana’s Andrae Hernandez 7-3 to qualify for quarterfinals. Headlee then defeated Darrell Vasquez of Cal Poly 3-1, advancing him to the second day of the tournament.

No. 5 seed Matt Kocher also won all of his day one matches at 157 pounds.

Kocher earned a technical fall in pigtails against Cal Fullerton’s Bobbie Musser. In his first-round match, he pinned Noomis Jones of Adam State at the 3:25 mark to advance to the second round.

Kocher’s second-round bout was an easy 11-3 decision over West Virginia’s Zac Fryling. Kocher won a close 3-2 decision over fourth seed James Strouse of Hofstra to advance to day two.

At 174 pounds, Keith Gavin took a slightly more challenging route to the second day of the tournament.

Gavin drew a bye for pigtails and easily won his first-round match against Boise State’s Nate Lee 5-3.

His second-round match with Wisconsin’s Matt Maciag, however, went into overtime, where he earned a 6-4 sudden victory.

Gavin then faced a familiar opponent in Steve Luke of Michigan. Luke defeated Gavin earlier this season in the championship match of the Cornell Body Bar Invitational.

The two remained tied through three periods. In overtime, Gavin earned a 6-4 sudden victory with a takedown to avenge his previous loss.

In the second day, Headlee suffered his first two losses of the season.

In his semifinal bout, Headlee faced No. 1 seed and reigning national champion Matt Valenti of Penn. Valenti defeated Headlee, 9-5, and forced Headlee into a consolation match against Missouri’s Tyler McCormick. McCormick also defeated the Pitt star in an 8-2 decision.

Headlee regained his composure and beat Mark Budd of Buffalo to finish fifth in the tournament.

Matt Kocher also drew a difficult semifinal match against the No. 1-ranked Brian Stith of Arizona State. Kocher lost a heartbreaker in overtime, 4-2.

Kocher bounced back, however, to defeat Missouri’s Mike Chandler 4-3 in his next bout.

In the nightcap, Kocher fell to Wisconsin’s Greg Henning. Kocher led the match through the third period, but Henning earned a takedown and a point for riding time for the 4-2 triumph. The loss gave Kocher a fourth-place finish in the tournament.

Keith Gavin also faced a No. 1 seed and former NCAA champion in his semifinal match with Missouri’s Ben Askren. Askren defeated Gavin with a fall 2:16 into the bout.

Gavin shook off the loss and defeated Rider’s Doug Umbehauer, who he had defeated once earlier this season, 7-2, in his consolation match.

In the third-place bout, Gavin was pitted against Jeremy Larson of Oregon State. Larson took an early 2-1 lead with his first period takedown, but Gavin scored an escape in the second period to tie the match at two.

The two were once again tied in the closing seconds of the third period before an escape gave Gavin a 6-5 victory and a third-place finish.

“Those three guys are certainly our leaders and they’ve done a great job,” said Stottlemyer.

“It was going to be a big challenge for them, but they were ready for it, and they wrestled very well. Any three of them could be standing on top of the podium in the springtime.”

As a team, Pitt finished 10th.

Pitt will continue its season this Saturday at home against Lehigh. The match will begin at 1 p.m.